---
title: "Leviticus 18 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/leviticus/18/
description: "Marriage is prohibited in certain degrees of kindred: Anda all unnatural lusts. Leviticus 18 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18 is chapter 18 of 27 in the Book of Leviticus. Here are all 30 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Marriage is prohibited in certain degrees of kindred: Anda all unnatural lusts.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Leviticus 18 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2. Speak to the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them: I am the Lord your God.
3. You shall not act according to the custom of the land of Egypt, in which you have lived; nor shall you behave according to the habit of the region of Canaan, into which I will lead you; neither shall you walk in their ordinances.
4. You shall accomplish my judgments, and you shall observe my precepts, and you shall walk in them. I am the Lord your God.
5. Keep my laws and judgments; when a man does these, he shall live by them. I am the Lord.
6. No man shall approach her who is a close blood-relative to him, so as to uncover her nakedness. I am the Lord.
7. You shall not expose the nakedness of your father, or the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness.
8. You shall not expose the nakedness of your father’s wife; for it is the nakedness of your father.
9. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, whether from father or from mother, whether she was born at home or abroad.
10. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter, or your daughter’s daughter; for it is your own nakedness.
11. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, whom she bore to your father, and who is your sister.
12. You shall not expose the nakedness of your father’s sister; for she is the flesh of your father.
13. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, because she is the flesh of your mother.
14. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, nor shall you approach his wife, who is joined to you by affinity.
15. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law, for she is your son’s wife; neither shall you expose her dishonor.
16. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; for it is the nakedness of your brother.
17. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your wife and her daughter. You shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter, so as to uncover her dishonor; for they are her flesh, and such sexual intercourse is incest.
18. You shall not take your wife’s sister as a rival mistress; nor shall you uncover her nakedness, while your wife is still living.
19. You shall not approach a woman who is undergoing menstruation, nor shall you uncover her foulness.
20. You shall not have sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, nor shall you be defiled by the mingling of seed.
21. You shall not give some of your seed to be consecrated to the idol Moloch, nor to pollute the name of your God. I am the Lord.
22. You shall not commit sexual acts with a male, in place of sexual intercourse with a female, for this is an abomination.
23. You shall not commit sexual acts with any animal, nor shall you be defiled by it. A woman shall not lie down with a beast, nor commit sexual acts with it; for this is wickedness.
24. Do not pollute yourselves with any of these things, by which all of the nations, which I will cast out in your sight, have been contaminated
25. and by which the land has been polluted. I will visit the wickedness of the land, so that it may vomit out its inhabitants.
26. Keep my ordinances and judgments, and do not do any of these abominations: the native born, as well as the settler, who sojourns among you.
27. For all these detestable things were done by the inhabitants of the land who were here before you, and they have polluted it.
28. Therefore, beware, lest in a similar manner, it may vomit you out as well, if you do these same things, just as it vomited out the people who were before you.
29. Every soul who shall commit any of these abominations shall perish from the midst of his people.
30. Keep my commandments. Do not be willing to do the things which have been done by those who were before you, and do not be polluted by these things. I am the Lord your God.

## Leviticus 18 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Locutus est Dominus ad Moysen, dicens:
2. Loquere filiis Israël, et dices ad eos: Ego Dominus Deus vester:
3. juxta consuetudinem terræ Ægypti, in qua habitastis, non facietis: et juxta morem regionis Chanaan, ad quam ego introducturus sum vos, non agetis, nec in legitimis eorum ambulabitis.
4. Facietis judicia mea, et præcepta mea servabitis, et ambulabitis in eis. Ego Dominus Deus vester.
5. Custodite leges meas atque judicia, quæ faciens homo, vivet in eis. Ego Dominus.
6. Omnis homo ad proximam sanguinis sui non accedet, ut revelet turpitudinem ejus. Ego Dominus.
7. Turpitudinem patris tui et turpitudinem matris tuæ non discooperies: mater tua est: non revelabis turpitudinem ejus.
8. Turpitudinem uxoris patris tui non discooperies: turpitudo enim patris tui est.
9. Turpitudinem sororis tuæ ex patre sive ex matre, quæ domi vel foris genita est, non revelabis.
10. Turpitudinem filiæ filii tui vel neptis ex filia non revelabis: quia turpitudo tua est.
11. Turpitudinem filiæ uxoris patris tui, quam peperit patri tuo, et est soror tua, non revelabis.
12. Turpitudinem sororis patris tui non discooperies: quia caro est patris tui.
13. Turpitudinem sororis matris tuæ non revelabis, eo quod caro sit matris tuæ.
14. Turpitudinem patrui tui non revelabis, nec accedes ad uxorem ejus, quæ tibi affinitate conjungitur.
15. Turpitudinem nurus tuæ non revelabis, quia uxor filii tui est: nec discooperies ignominiam ejus.
16. Turpitudinem uxoris fratris tui non revelabis: quia turpitudo fratris tui est.
17. Turpitudinem uxoris tuæ et filiæ ejus non revelabis. Filiam filii ejus, et filiam filiæ illius non sumes, ut reveles ignominiam ejus: quia caro illius sunt, et talis coitus incestus est.
18. Sororem uxoris tuæ in pellicatum illius non accipies, nec revelabis turpitudinem ejus adhuc illa vivente.
19. Ad mulierem quæ patitur menstrua non accedes, nec revelabis fœditatem ejus.
20. Cum uxore proximi tui non coibis, nec seminis commistione maculaberis.
21. De semine tuo non dabis ut consecretur idolo Moloch, nec pollues nomen Dei tui. Ego Dominus.
22. Cum masculo non commiscearis coitu femineo, quia abominatio est.
23. Cum omni pecore non coibis, nec maculaberis cum eo. Mulier non succumbet jumento, nec miscebitur ei, quia scelus est.
24. Nec polluamini in omnibus his quibus contaminatæ sunt universæ gentes, quas ego ejiciam ante conspectum vestrum,
25. et quibus polluta est terra: cujus ego scelera visitabo, ut evomat habitatores suos.
26. Custodite legitima mea atque judicia, et non faciatis ex omnibus abominationibus istis, tam indigena quam colonus qui peregrinantur apud vos.
27. Omnes enim execrationes istas fecerunt accolæ terræ qui fuerunt ante vos, et polluerunt eam.
28. Cavete ergo ne et vos similiter evomat, cum paria feceritis, sicut evomuit gentem, quæ fuit ante vos.
29. Omnis anima, quæ fecerit de abominationibus his quippiam, peribit de medio populi sui.
30. Custodite mandata mea. Nolite facere quæ fecerunt hi qui fuerunt ante vos, et ne polluamini in eis. Ego Dominus Deus vester.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 2388: Offenses Against the Dignity of Marriage ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 23: In Hebrew, this word heinous crime is expressed by the word confusion, signifying the shamefulness and baseness of this abominable sin.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).